US, Europe throw their very first joint cyber-war party

The European Union and the US on Thursday conducted their first ever cyber security exercises designed to coordinate responses to attacks on critical infrastructure.

Security experts from the US and 27 EU member states were involved in the drill, which simulated crises affecting national security. In the first scenario, a targeted attack burrowed into the network of an EU country and stole sensitive data there. In the second, an industrial control system used to manage machinery in a power plant was attacked, in an attempt to disrupt its operations.

The goal of the operation – which was organized by ENISA, or the European Network and Information Security Agency, and the Department of Homeland Security – was to identify weaknesses in critical infrastructure and learn how security professionals in different countries could rapidly develop an effective response. The exercise was similar to the Cyber Storm drills regularly run by the US and last year's pan-European cyber security exercise.